Spending Your Ad Dollars Wisely

You’re down an employee and are therefore less productive than you were before. In turn, there’s a risk your profits may fall if you don’t fill that position quickly; and even then it will take you a few weeks to get a new person in and trained; and at least another few weeks to get that person up to the level of the employee you just lost. It may be just me, but this is not the time to throw a few thousand dollars into job ads. All that will do is compound your problem.

Too many small businesses think that taking an ad out in the local paper or placing a listing on an expensive job board will deliver the best candidate quickly and efficiently. But will that really deliver the results you so desperately need? Remember, the “return to profitability” clock is ticking.

An advertising agency will tell you that a broadcast message is less effective than a targeted one. Placing an ad for a local dealership on the ABC movie of the week will not net optimum results. Nor will placing an ad for the latest greatest chick flick generate great results if it’s placed in the middle of a fly fishing show.

There’s plenty of alternatives these days that allow you to root out the best possible candidates for your particular job for the least amount of money. There’s plenty of free sites and cheap local circulars that will reach the right person. It’s a lot more beneficial for you to spend an hour researching these avenues than spending weeks training a person who may not enhance your business.

Write Your Ads Carefully

A misused word in a job ad can be deadly to your recruiting efforts. Take a look at this recent job ad posted in New York by the FOX News Channel as detailed at the Chicago Tribune:

Freelance Fact Writer

New York

Requirements/Responsibility:

FOX News Channel, a fast-paced 24-hour television news operation in New York City, is seeking a Freelance Fact Writer for its information center.

Responsibilities include writing on-air facts and press conference quotes for daytime programming. Individuals must have strong writing skills, be able to handle multiple assignments and deadlines, and work well in a team atmosphere. Excellent communication and writing skills are also required.

What’s primarily wrong with this ad is the implication that the writer will be “writing facts and press conference quotes” as opposed to researching, re-typing or copying them. By calling this position a writer, it sounds as if the person will be making up these facts and quotes whole cloth, which I’m sure is not the intention of the producers.**

Lesson to be learned here? Check you ad with others to make sure it says what you want it to say and can’t be misconstrued. You’re liable to miss out on some stellar candidates

**Please, let’s not discuss the journalistic ethics of FOX news, this job ad came from the HR department and never crossed paths with the editorial department or on-air personalities. This blog has no opinion about the integrity of the stories on this channel because, quite honestly, we don’t watch it.